5 ways to join or create thriving communities

Once upon a time, we’d listen to our friends and family as we go about making decisions for a new purchase. We would ask, they would tell us, and we’d then make a decision, having taking those inputs into consideration. While this might still be the norm, the Internet has ushered in a new trend: family and friends aside, we have communities and platforms teeming with people with varying levels of experience, knowledge, and insights on all things under the sun.

As the Internet evolved, small forums mushroomed, and eventually burgeoned into thousands of niche communities. Once concentrated around geeky “interest groups,” these communities have now matured to the point that they can make or break a business. That’s why community management is now a part of a smart content marketing strategy. Continue reading →

Predictions to help businesses stay ahead of the curve

With 2014 knocking on the door, we thought it was time to put down the eggnog and take a hard look at what’s going to be hot on the social media marketing front the coming year — and what won’t be hot.

Before we do, let’s take a quick look at a roundup of trends that have originated from the most popular social networks this year. Continue reading →

Startup seeks to make online networking more efficient

As professionals who live in an era where everything is social, where most things we do matter only if they are liked, shared or reposted, it is no longer a cliché to say that “it’s all about who you know.” Regardless of the profession we chose for ourselves, or the industry we want to master, we all learn at one point or another that personal networking is a crucial element in the process of expanding our business presence and reputation. The real question is simply how to make the networking process more efficient.

Take, for instance, the world of communications and PR – a world that is near and dear to my heart. Everyone from large brands to small startups wants to get their names out there, and social media has made that process easier than ever before. Yet, we still travel the world to meet people, to attend conferences, to chit-chat and build connections. Why is this real-world connection still so important considering the power of social media and other technologies? Continue reading →

9 ways to leverage the power of LinkedIn

Guest post by Cara Aley

The right digital marketing strategy is important for every new business. Many new business owners focus their efforts mostly on Facebook and Twitter and overlook how useful LinkedIn can be in the launch and building of awareness for their businesses.

Below you’ll find multiple ways in which you can use this powerful networking website to help successfully promote your new business.

Create a profile for better SEO

1LinkedIn is one of the more search engine optimized websites. Simply creating a profile on LinkedIn for your business will ensure that it is pretty quickly one of the first links people will see when they search for your business (this is good for both SEO and reputation management, pushing other links down further in search results).

In creating your profile on LinkedIn, you can provide a company description, a separate product description page, and other links (including one to your website). Use keywords in your company and product descriptions to ensure SEO opportunities. Continue reading →

You can’t ignore the power that search holds for your business

If you’re a serious business person whose business isn’t digital, you’re probably too busy making money to fool around on social media. Social media’s stupid, right? Just baby pictures, workout check-ins, adorable kittens and the self-indulgent ramblings of under-employed folks too far to either the left or the right to amount to much.

Big business has adopted many of the tools of the digital age, but it hasn’t gone native — because it doesn’t need to. Big money doesn’t need digital to do big business. It’s just cream — an additional channel for additional revenue.

There’s a lot of business being done and a lot of money being made using ’50s-era technology: phone calls, meetings, conference calls, lunches, dinners and hours at the club or the golf course. The Internet has not usurped the traditional, it has merely enriched it; however, there’s also no barrier to entry so this party isn’t exclusive but it’s super-saturated with powerful influencers and new media gods. So, please beware. Continue reading →

I have spent years blogging forth everything I know about online brand promotion in the form of social media marketing and digital PR.

Now, I will be focusing primarily on online brand protection in the form of online reputation management and online privacy protection. As some of you may know, I recently onboarded as Team Lead, Special Projects, over at Reputation.com. While 20% of my practice at my last agency included ORM, 100% of my world at Reputation.com is focused on defending the reputations of individuals and businesses from the mad proliferation of online databases rife with intimate personal details and search engines chock full of the spore of what trolls and haters have left behind. Continue reading →